This past weekend, North Korea fired five short-range missiles off its coast as a demonstration of its improving missile technology. The development of these missiles would be able to more effectively target miltary bases in South Korea. According to some United States and South Korean sources, North Korea is attempting to construct a nuclear warhead capable of fitting inside an intercontinental balistic missile. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un states that these are simply military exercises, and has tried to bargin with the United States, attempting to trade a temporary pause in nuclear tests for a suspension of the annual military demonstrations conducted by the U.S. and South Korea.
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Questions:
Should the U.S. be worried about these tests?
Should any action be taken by the U.S. or other countries regarding the missile tests?
4 comments:
The current state of North Korea's missile technology is not sufficient to be an immediate threat to the US. The missiles North Korea has at the moment could cause damage to South Korea, but is insufficient to win any large-scale conflict. For this reason, it is unlikely that North Korea initiate any conflicts in the near future.
In all seriousness, the greater problem regarding North Korea is the potential for China to get involved in defense of its ally. North Korea would not be capable of endangering the US or South Korea even if it did attain nuclear missiles, which seem unlikely for the time being.
I believe that N. Korea is not yet a big enough threat to the continental US. I have also read in other articles that N. Korea is not allowed to own long-range missiles. Due to these two facts, I believe that the continental US has nothing to fear. However, because our allies Japan and S. Korea are so close to N. Korea, then that might be an area of concern for us.
I don't think that any action should be taken against them. I believe that N. Korea, despite how they act towards foreign countries, knows that if they were to attack they would fail miserably. If we were to attack N. Korea then that could possibly start an unnecessary war.
I think that this is yet another attempt by North Korea to goad a reaction out of the United States. While it may be important to note that their missile technology is improving, as of yet it is not high scale enough to cause concern for the US. While they have tried to make a statement with these tests, I think that our attention is better directed elsewhere, such as the continued conflict that is currently going on with ISIS.
I agree with Alex M 100%. While N. Korea Isn't an immediate threat, It's largest ally, China, who has nuclear weapons, is. The minute N. Korea acquires anything close to actual Nukes, things will get dicey. since there are already preexisting tensions between north and south Korea, and tensions between China and Japan, the powder keg is set. There just needs to be a spark, and War Isn't that abstract an idea.
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